Furnace Installation and Replacement in Cambridge

What a Cambridge furnace replacement involves depends mostly on your home's age and how its heating has changed over the years.

Galt, Preston and Hespeler century homes. Thick stone and brick walls, low basements and older chimneys make these the most involved installs. Every new gas furnace sold today is a high-efficiency condensing model, vented in plastic through a side wall. We have to find a vent route that clears windows, doors, gas meters and grade, which can be tight on older lots. If a gas water heater stays in the old chimney, it may need a liner to vent safely. Condensing furnaces also produce water, so we plan a drain or condensate pump.

Ductwork in older homes. Many older Cambridge homes have heating ducts that were added in stages, with few or no returns upstairs. A new furnace can't fix that on its own. We measure airflow during the quote and tell you whether a return or duct change is worth doing at the same time. For upper floors that ducts never reached, a ductless mini-split can be a better answer than more ductwork.

Fiddlesticks, newer Hespeler and other 1990s-2010s homes. These usually have high-efficiency furnaces already, so replacement is more straightforward. Builder furnaces were often oversized; sizing to the house rather than the old unit can let you go smaller and get quieter, more even heat.

For most Cambridge homes, a two-stage furnace with a variable-speed blower is the best balance. It runs on low most of the winter and steps up on the coldest nights near the region's design temperature of around -19°C to -20°C. Single-stage units cost less up front; modulating furnaces give the most even heat but cost more. We'll explain the trade-offs for your house.

If your air conditioner is also due, consider pairing the furnace with a cold-climate heat pump. Cambridge homes are on Enbridge Gas and GrandBridge Energy, so homeowners can generally apply for Home Renovation Savings Program rebates on qualifying heat pumps. Check current eligibility in our Ontario heat pump rebate guide.

A standard high-efficiency gas furnace in Waterloo Region typically runs somewhere around $5,000 to $9,000 installed. Century homes in Galt or Preston that need new vent routes, chimney liners or duct changes can cost more, as can variable-speed and modulating models. These are typical market ranges, not our prices; your quote depends on your home, the furnace and the venting.

Our furnace replacement cost guide explains what drives the price, and financing is available.

Replacing a furnace in Cambridge is far easier in the fall than in a January emergency. With time, you can choose the right size and type, sort out venting in an older house properly, and check whether pairing it with a heat pump makes sense.

If your furnace is near 20 years old, is the original builder unit in a Fiddlesticks or Hespeler home, or needed repairs in each of the last two winters, get a quote while it still runs. In older Galt and Preston homes, planning ahead also gives time to sort out chimney or duct work properly.

We install furnaces in Galt, East Galt, West Galt, Preston, Hespeler, Blair, Fiddlesticks, Silver Heights and Saginaw. All gas work is done by licensed gas technicians, and we're TSSA-registered.

Not sure it's time? A furnace repair visit in Cambridge gets you a straight repair-versus-replace answer. See our furnace installation service page for how install day works, and the Cambridge HVAC page for everything else we do in the city.